Explained: Why You're Still Fat

In Part 1 of the Exercise-Eating Connection, we looked at the obesogenic environment we live in and how without a lot of knowledge and some ass-kicking mental discipline, you’re pretty much screwed.Seriously, modern society seems pretty damned determined to make us fat, and for most of us, it’s succeeding in turning us all into tubs of bacon grease.Mmmm… Bacon.But if you don’t want to look like you’re 10 months pregnant, then you need to do something about fighting the system. Fighting that system starts with exercise, but not for the reasons you might think.When it comes to exercise, we need to start with a warning.

Watch out for the reward mentality

What I mean is, your ability to be successful at sustaining a healthy, calorie-restricted diet is significantly boosted if you first get active because it acts as a“gateway behaviour” to better eating. That is, if you don’t fall for the trap of the reward mentality. The thing is,some people have a tendency to increase their food intake when they exercise, wiping out their caloric burning efforts. These people will burn off 300 calories on a treadmill and reward themselves with a 500 calorie piece of cheesecake, and that’s just bad math.In order for exercise to truly change the way you eat, you must be mindful. Instead of thinking, “I exercised, therefore I deserve a reward,” switch to, “I exercised, therefore I’ve improved my ability to resist crap.” You can take it a step further by seeing a need to fuel your body with high-octane go juice.

Understanding what exercise really is about

Everybody thinks exercise is about burning calories, but in reality, that is just about the least important thing it does. The most important thing it does is provide a training response. This means it makes you faster, stronger, more agile and flexible, and generally healthier from head to toe. It also canprevent brain deterioration with age,anxiety disorders, reverse type 2 diabetes, stave off heart disease and cancer, arthritis, and probably prevents a bunch of other nasty conditions that we don’t even know about.The second most important thing about it — as already mentioned — is the way it empowers you around food.OK, sorry about using the word “empower.” That’s an Oprahism. Never again. Still friends? Great.Finally, and perhaps least important, exercise burns calories.

Exercise first. Everything else later

People hate change, and if you try and jump onto the complete lifestyle overhaul in one day, then it’s a recipe for a crash and a burn. So you tackle the easier of the two first, and that’s exercise. The reason why exercise is easier is simple: You can start slow and just add small increments of time and intensity and frequency each week. If you get up to being pretty hardcore and working out six or more hours each week, then that’s only six hours out of each week that you actually need to be motivated to exercise. The rest of the time you can be a lazy ass if you like.Conversely, diet requires 24/7 motivation. If you’re focusing on weight loss, you can derail days worth of caloric restriction in just an hour of drunken gluttony.And this is why exercise comes first, because just focusing on that one thing — integrating exercise into your life — increases the likelihood you will persevere at it. Then, once ingrained, being a regular exerciser gives you the power to resist junk food.

Your brain on exercise

Junk food is addictive, and this addiction works on the same neurochemical pathways in your brain that do drugs, alcohol and gambling.You want to know what else works on those same neurological pathways? The good feelings you get from exercise. What this means is that people who exercise a lot can get that same feel-good “fix” from exercise as they do from eating crap. Well, not literal crap. I mean stuff like salt-and-vinegar chips and ice-cream sandwiches.When your need for a rush is satisfied via strenuous effort rather than food, that’s a good thing.